


A Bond Stronger Than Love

by angelofrandomfandoms



Category: Naruto
Genre: Action & Romance, Action/Adventure, Angst, Drama & Romance, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Family, Family Drama, Fluff and Angst, Romance
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-27
Updated: 2019-04-06
Packaged: 2019-12-18 17:57:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,006
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18254954
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/angelofrandomfandoms/pseuds/angelofrandomfandoms
Summary: Koyuki Hatake is the younger sister of Hatake Kakashi, when she was 8 her memories were locked away in order to protect her from the trauma of experiencing the death of her mother. Now, four years later those memories are starting to break through when she almost dies during her first C-Ranked mission and the trigger to those memories just happens to be a certain raven haired teammate.  Why is Sasuke tied to her memories and what happens when she starts getting her memories back and she realizes that her link to the Uchiha runs deeper than she thought? Also, why is her birthmark so important and why does her brother keep telling her to keep it hidden?





	1. Rememberance

Daddy daddy! I saw a baby bird fly after his mommy and…daddy?" three-year-old Koyuki stopped a few feet from the entrance of the living room at seeing her father's feet peeking through the doorway. She got closer to the entrance, a sudden feeling of weariness settling over her as she called her father again. Her father still didn't move so she walked further in only to stop and stare with horrified eyes at the scene in front of her. Her father was laying on his side, eyes facing the side tables that had family pictures, eyes that were slightly unfocused and gave a slow blink when Koyuki let out a scared whimper before moving towards him. The most terrifying part however, was the blood pooling under him and spreading on the wooden floor.

"Daddy?" The young child repeated in a small and frightened voice. Her father moved a hand that she noticed was also covered with blood, wrist slit and still flowing with blood. He reached towards her and Koyuki moved to him until her little feet stepped on the blood and soaked her light blue socks along with her knees as she kneeled in front of her father. He placed a hand over her cheek and wiped away the tears that began to fall.

"I'm..sorry….so sorry my…little one…" her father said in a hoarse voice.

"Daddy you hurt," she replied as she saw the puddle of blood had grown more. "I need to get nii-san-"

"It's…too late love…tell Kashi…I'm sorry…I disappointed him…" he gave a wet cough and blood splattered on Koyuki's cheek.

"Daddy please…don't go to sleep! No!" She shook her father's shirt as her eyes blurred with more tears. Her father's eyes had gone glassy and his breathing was almost nonexistent as he looked at her one last time; though to him he wasn't looking at his daughter but his wife and she was looking at him with sadness in her eyes.

"I'm sorry Kiyoko, my love…. I'm …..sorry…" his voice drifted off as the last of his breath left him and the hand that had been cradling her cheek went slack and fell to the floor. Koyuki shook her father's clothes more insistently, but this time her father didn't respond and kept looking at her with glassy eyes. Why were his eyes glassy he should be looking at her with bright eyes just like he always does when he brings flowers from mom's garden, why wasn't he moving!?

"Daddy….daddy move…please move, DADDY!" She started screaming, her voice getting higher and louder as she begged her dad to wake up. She was then aware that someone was grabbing at her and she began to fight it, telling whoever it was to help her daddy because he was hurt.

"Koyuki wake up! You're dreaming it's ok." She kept struggling and fighting whoever was holding her, she kicked out her leg and whoever held her cursed as she got them in the ribs though their hold on her didn't loosen. They held her by the arms and gave her a firm shake before snapping at her.

"KOYUKI WAKE UP!" She opened her eyes with a cry of terror and struggled against the arms that had wrapped around her in order to stop her from falling off her bed. She begged whoever was holding her to let go but the arm held her tighter while she cried and whimpered, images of her father in a pool of his own blood still flashing through her mind.

"Shhh, shhh, it's ok Koyuki. I got you little sis I got you." They said in a soothing voice as she continued to sob. She slowly started becoming aware of her surroundings and noticed she was in her room, her window was opened and the moon was still high in the sky so it was still late in the night. She took a deep breath and the scent of the musk, pine, and just a hint of wet dog filled her nose.

"Kakashi Nii-san?" She asked in a small voice and her brother shushed her again before stroking her hair.

"I'm here Koyuki, it's going to be ok." Her brother assured her until she calmed down. Kakashi stopped stroking her hair but kept his arms around her.

"I had that dream again…" She whispered.

"I know," he replied with sigh "It's the anniversary today." It was the seven-year anniversary of their father's death and every year Koyuki would always relive the day she found her father in a pool of his own blood and bleeding on the floor. Kakashi would always be woken up by the terrified screams of his little sister, thrashing on the bed with tears running down her cheeks as she pleaded her father to wake up. If he was honest he'd rather have nightmares about the death of his teammates than see his sister suffer like that, especially since he hadn't been there for her and their mother when it happened. His hold on her tightened for a few more minutes before he let go and looked toward the clock.

 _5:30 am...she won't go back to sleep after this so we might as well get up now._  Kakashi thought with a sigh as he looked over to the window where the light of dawn filtered through the curtains. Since neither had the appetite for breakfast after the nightmare they simply showered, got dressed and headed to the Yamanaka flower shop. Fortunately, it was still early and the amount of people walking around starting their day were few. Kakashi and Koyuki were able to take comfort in the silence until they got to the shop where a girl about Koyuki's age was arranging flowers and organizing the flower displays outside the shop. The girl looked up and a big smile spread through her lips at the sight of them.

"Koyuki-chan! Kakashi-san, good morning!" Kakashi's eyes crinkled slightly in a small smile that was covered by his ever-present mask while Koyuki simply gave a slight twitch of her lips.

"Morning Ino, we're here to pick up the usual." Ino's big smiled slipped into a softer one at Koyuki's words, remembering what today was before she nodded and rushed inside. It was only a few seconds that she came back with a small bouquet of snapdragon and statice in a white wrap.

"Will I see you at the academy later today?" she asked as Koyuki took the flowers and Kakashi handed Ino the money.

"Ah," was her only reply before turning around and walking away, her brother give Ino a small nod and then following her.

It didn't take too long to get to the cemetery to their father's grave and lay the flowers on the small pot over his grave. They burned incense and simply stood next to each other, hands in their pockets and giving an air of nonchalance while on the inside there was a swirl of emotions, though each different to the Hatake siblings. Koyuki kept replaying in her mind how her mother had found her crying hysterically over her father's body when she had returned home from meeting with the Hokage; the devastated but resigned look on her mother's face when she had seen her husband's lifeless body...as if she had already known he was planning on taking his life. Kakashi's hands clenched in his pockets as he remembered coming home from a long mission only for anbu to escort him directly to the Hokage's office and see his mother dressed in black and his baby sister starting to cry hysterically the moment she saw him. She had lunged her tiny body at him, clinging to his anbu gear and mumbling over and over  _he's sorry, he said he was sorry, please don't hate him he said he loved you and that he was sorry_. Their mother had started crying again and the Hokage had to lower his large hat to hide the tears that threatened to spill at the youngest Hatake's pleas.

Kakashi couldn't help the swell of resentment and anger he felt towards his father every time they came to the cemetery. Hadn't his father told him to protect his baby sister so she wouldn't go through the same hardships Kakashi himself had gone through as a child?! What a hypocrite to spew all that and then take his own life in front of his daughter's eyes. His father was the catalyst that set all the misery that followed after his death, the almost kidnapping of his sister at age 6, the death of their mother and almost losing his sister to- Kakashi took a deep breath and let it out slowly, trying to keep his chakra from spiking any further in anger as Koyuki glanced at him from the corner of her eyes. She had gotten better at reading his moods just by sensing his chakra and today had been no exception, she sent him a mildly reproachful look to which he replied with a shrug of his shoulders. They stood there again in silence, letting time disappear from their minds before the sound of a crow broke the spell and they looked around. The sun had risen higher in the sky and Koyuki knew she would have to get going soon if she was going to make it to the academy for her kunoichi class.

"I'm going to get going..." she said in a low voice. Kakashi simply placed his hand on top of her head and his eyes crinkled a bit in a small smile. "Are you going to visit Obito and Rin?"

"Ah, I have a meeting with Asuma and Genma after." he replied and Koyuki scoffed before playfully slapping his hand of her head.

"Try not to be too late nii-san." Kakashi's only response was an affirmative hum before Koyuki walked away.

* * *

"Today class we're going to be gathering medicinal plants, I want you to gather any plants you think are for healing and find them in the textbook provided. If you can't find them bring them to me and I shall help you identify them. I want you to then sketch them in your notebook and label them correctly along with their uses in both medicine and for attacking an enemy. You have the entire class time, please use your time wisely." the kunoichi instructor assigned before heading over to a smaller and younger group of girls to give them their own assignment.

Koyuki instantly turned her back on the class who turned to each other, no doubt to gossip, and headed to the large field that had a variety of weed, and flower like plants with her book bag in hand. Right away she identified some of the easier plants, chamomile, lavender, parsley, peppermint, rosemary, and thyme. Most of these she knew were either used for culinary purposes, oils –lavender- or for teas –chamomile, peppermint, and rosemary- and then-

"Oh, hello pretty." she whispered with excitement as she kneeled down to grab the leaves of a Bella Donna.

"You really shouldn't sound so happy about finding a poisonous plant." an amused voiced sounded from behind her. She turned her head and saw Ino looking at her with hands on her hips, eyebrow raised.

"We're ninja Ino, bella donna is one of the most poisonous plants. It can be used to put someone in a coma or kill them depending on the dosage. Did you know that eating around 10 pounds of almond is just as bad as taking a small amount of bella donna?"

"I'll make sure to measure my almonds ratio properly." Ino dryly replied. Koyuki shrugged as she collected some leaves and began sketching the plants along with writing information while Ino began collecting plants as well.

"Why can't we pick the other types of flowers," Ino murmured "like roses, and daisies."

"If you want to work with pretty flowers than just go work at the flower shop Ino." she snarked back and received a glare for her troubles.

"Why are you even taking this class anyways, don't you have a sensei to teach you all this?" Ino asked her for the hundredth time since she started taking the class back when they had started the academy and Koyuki had joined their kunoichi class.

"My sensei is my brother and he thought it would be a good idea for me to interact with kids my age." she mumbled.

"Well, not much of a success is it?" Ino teased and Koyuki gave her an affronted look.

"What it's not my fault you guys are more interested in hair products and boys! We're supposed to train to be ninjas not find a husband, that's what civilian school is for."

"You can do both!" Ino argued and to prove her point Koyuki motioned to the rest of their kunoichi group who was meandering about but most of them were actually just talking and giggling. Ino scrunched her nose. "Good point."

"Ino!" both girls turned their heads to see a pink hair girl with green eyes rushing to her, arms loaded with a small bundle of plants. Koyuki had never really talked with the pink haired girl, mostly hanging out with Ino when she wasn't interacting with her other group of friends. She had seen the girl follow her around like a lost duckling since they started the academy but Koyuki still preferred to keep her distance, the girl was just as bad as Ino when it came to gossip and fangirling over a boy they would bring up a lot during class.

"Whelp, that's my cue," Koyuki said, closing her notebook and grabbing her plants.

"Oh, come on, you have to interact with other girls besides me." Ino laughed.

"The day most of them become competent like you then I'll think about it." she replied and smirked when she heard Ino stutter.

"Wha-What?! Com-Co-Competent?! I'll show you competent you homeschooled brat!" Ino snapped back while Koyuki just walked away with a laugh, not looking at the pink girl who gave her a curious look as she passed her.

* * *

So here's the first chapter, I actually wanted to start with a little background for Koyuki and Kakashi as well as one of the first ppl she meets. It's short I know but because of limited time and me fleshing it out as I write they'll be kinda small but I promise they will get a bit longer as I fix things. I love feedback so if anything feels off let me know I really appreciate it when readers give their opinion because it helps us out as writers to give you guys better content.


	2. Creating Bonds

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Last chapter we see Koyuki have a nightmare of her father's death on the anniversary of his suicide. Ino is then introduced as one of her first childhood friends. Now we're going to see her interact with a few more of the rookie nine along with some of Kakashi's fellow jonin.

You're leaving for a mission?" Kakashi turns from his backpack at the voice and sees his sister leaning against the door way of his room. She was dressed in spandex shorts and form fitting tank with her hair in a high bun and he also noticed bandages wrapped around her hands all the way up to her elbows.

"Training with Gai today?" he countered back, not answering the question which Koyuki noticed.

"I'm meeting with him in five minutes, how long will you be gone?" she asks again as her brother closes his backpack with a firm  _zip_  and trows it over his shoulder as he levels her with a soft crinkle of his eyes. She sighs before walking over to him and pressing her hands against his cheeks which were covered by his mask. Kakashi is suddenly taken back to a time before she turned one, days when he was recklessly accepting dangerous anbu missions despite his parents's worry for him. It was a time where the loss of his sensei was still painfully fresh in his mind but it had also been a time when his baby sister would be incredibly upset whenever he left on missions or came back injured. It had amazed him how aware she was of people's emotions despite being a baby, any time the guilt had become too overwhelming she would demand his attention; never letting anyone but him feed her, hold her, change her, or even put her to bed. Before he would leave on a mission she would always pull his mask down -thankfully it was always at home when she did this- despite his many protest and pat his cheeks -if a little too hard- as if to wish him luck and to be careful. If he came back injured she would simply reach out and pat his cheeks again in welcome with a frown on her baby face but never demand to be held by him as if she knew it would hurt him to carry her with his injuries, no matter how small they were.

"You come back in one piece you hear?" she demanded with a sharp tone as her eyes shone with worry. Kakashi was brought back from his thoughts at her demand and he straightened his stance, placing his hand on top of her head and playfully ruffled her hair as she squawked in protest. With a huff she turned around, heading to the front door and only stopping when she opened it to look behind her with a mischievous glint in her eyes. "If you come back and you end up in the hospital I'm going to hide your icha icha book again."

"That's not fair," Kakashi whined in misery. "That mission in land of tea wasn't my fault! Genma didn't listen-"

"And this time I'll make sure no one helps you find it or they'll face my wrath." she finished making Kakashi sigh in defeat and nod. Koyuki gives her brother a triumphant grin before literally skipping out the door and closing it with a final slam.

* * *

"Koyuki-chan! You amaze me with your ability to be on time!" Koyuki stepped to the side and barely managed to avoid getting swept up into the arms of the full body green spandex dressed shinobi.

"Just because I'm related to Kakashi nii-san doesn't mean I'm going to be late to everything Gai." Koyuki said with a roll of her eyes at the wide smile her brother's 'rival' sent her. There wasn't a single moment in her life that hasn't had Gai in her memories; the earliest memory of Gai was probably when she was three years old, before the death of her father when she had met the strange and eccentric shinobi. Her brother had taken her to the park and there she remembered seeing the green spandex blur stop in front of her brother and demand a challenge. To her amusement her brother, despite acting like he was too cool for someone like Gai had accepted and thus she saw her older brother running around the playground on his hands. She had seen Gai more and more often after that. When her father died Gai had been even more present in their life along with Kakashi's other friends, and after their mother's death when Koyuki was nine Gai had taken her under his wing and begun training her in taijutsu. After that it was decided that she would be not trained in the academy except for the kunoichi mandatory classes.

"It's the one thing you did not learn from him!" Koyuki rolled her eyes at Gai's reply.

"So what are we doing today?" she asks as Gai leads her towards the punching practice poles.

"2000 punches!" Gai exclaimed and Koyuki glared at the man.

"Stop giving me ridiculous goals you maniac!"

"But you hit 300 just two weeks ago!"

"And it took me all of last week to not feel like I would never be able to even pick up a piece of paper again!" Koyuki yelled back with a twitch in her eye.

"Fine, 600!"

"300!"

"500!"

"450!"

"Done!" Gai exclaimed and Koyuki realized he had just tricked her into doing an extra 150 punches. With a groan she glared murderously at him again, to which Gai merely gave his gigantic bright smile.

"Repetition isn't always a good thing. You must always do more the second time around." Gai told her as Koyuki walked over to the poles to start punching. Without checking to see if Gai would observe she readied her stance and started punching. She counted in her head with every punch, exhaling when she punched and inhaling when she'd pull her arm back. She continued this pattern until she picked up her speed and she was only breathing every few punches, each one slightly faster than the last. It was only when she was three quarters of the way done that she realized Gai was back -he had left a quarter of the way in- and this time he wasn't alone. She finished her last set of punches with the last three being the strongest before she slowly brought her arms down, flinching as her arms protested at the movements.

"That was so youthful Koyuki-chan!" Gai beamed. "Such determination, so much like your brother my eternal rival!" Cue the eye roll from Koyuki before Gai fixed her with a rare strict look. "Just remember, don't save your strength for the last three punches, also use full force on all your strikes. This way you will build stamina and not get tired the longer you fight."

"Ah," she replied with a nod before finally giving her attention to the person besides Gai who turned out to be a boy around her age, maybe older. He could've passed for a relative of Gai with those black bushy brows, eyes and black hair though instead of Gai's hideous bowl cut it was long to the neck and flipped out at the ends. Koyuki looked him over for a bit before she noticed his hands, they were covered in bandages just like hers. Gai noticed her staring at Lee's hands and he smiled.

"As I am sure you noticed, Lee has been my student for quite a few years." he announced proudly.

"But I don't remember you having been assigned any genin?" she replied with a raised eyebrow.

"I had decided to take Lee under my wing a few years back." Gai explained.

"I am specializing in taijutsu." Lee replied and when Koyuki glanced at him his cheeks turned slightly pink and avoided her stare.

"How come? Most don't really specialize until after they have graduated the academy and become genin." Lee fidgeted with his hands in embarrassment for a few seconds before he replied.

"Well...I-I-I can't do anything else. I cannot perform ninjutsu nor genjutsu." Lee hung his head in shame. "I was picked on relentlessly during my classes because of it and even my teachers thought that I would not be able to be a ninja," then he looked up and Koyuki saw his eyes light up in determination. "But it's thanks to Gai sensei that I have been able to prove everyone wrong! I shall become the greatest taijutsu master that Konoha has ever seen!"

Koyuki couldn't help the smirk that tugged at her lips at his declaration. She could see that he was serious about being a taijutsu master just like Gai, and she couldn't deny that she was curious to see how Lee would turn out in the next few years they had before graduation. If anything his presence here just proved Gai had something in mind which made her excited. Gai looked noticed the glint in her eyes before he beamed back at her.

"That's right Koyuki-chan! I have brought Lee so you may both spar together and test the limits of your youth!" Gai boomed with delight.

* * *

"I can't believe you fell for that," Koyuki smirked. They were both walking down the street, with Lee's arm around her shoulder as they both made their way through Konoha's market. The spar had end up with Gai stopping the fight before they both ended up with broken bones, both managed to hit the other but despite Lee having the advantage due to Koyuki being exhausted after all the 450 punches Koyuki had still been able to keep up with him. In order to celebrate their achievement -both having no clue what that achievement have been- Gai was treating them to food.

"I thought I had wounded you gravely!" Lee sputtered indignantly.

"You really need to learn how to tell when a girl is faking, otherwise you'll be easily beaten and no ninjutsu or genjutsu will be needed." she chuckled, making Lee pout.

"Ah, we have arrived!" they arrived at a barbecue restaurant and once inside they both sat down in satisfaction while wincing at the bruises that were surely starting to appear. "So what'll it be young ones?"

"Teriyaki please!" Koyuk smiled "Extra rice!"

Lee ordered a bowl barbecue pork chops and once their orders were delivered they ate with gusto. It was only when they were halfway through their meal when Koyuki heard her name being called. She looked up, smudge of teriyaki sauce on the corner of her lips and painfully swallow before she waved at Ino. She had arrived with her father and two other kids with their parents who she recognized only due to the descriptions Ino had given her during their classes together.

"Hey Ino," Koyuki replied as their party took a seat on the booth across from them.

"You look like you got beat up what happened?" Ino scolded her as she looked her over and then to Gai and Lee making her nose scrunch lightly in displeasure at their wardrobe choices. Ino's and the other two kid's fathers greeted Gai.

"Baby sitting Kakashi's sister Gai?" A man with long blond hair who couldn't be anyone but Ino's father teased, making Koyuki scowled.

"I don't need a baby sitter!" the adults chuckled, the father sitting next to Ino's father had black hair in a spiked pony tail with a scar running across his face whose kid looked very similar to him minus the scar looked to Koyuki and smirked.

"You know how long he'll be gone?"

"No, he didn't say...he rarely does." Koyuki mumbled as she moved her food around with her chopsticks. Seeing Koyuki's mood turning Ino waved her hand to the two other kids with her, both looking like the younger versions of their present fathers.

"This is Shikamaru Nara and Choji Akimichi." Shikamaru gave a lazy two finger wave while Choji, a round boy with swirls on his cheeks and spiky brown hair waved at her with his chopsticks. "They go to the academy, they're in my regular class."

"We've never seen her in Iruka sensei's class," said Choji throuhgh a mouthfull of food. "How do you know her?"

"I'm home schooled," Koyuki replied. "I only go to the academy for kunoichi classes, I get training from my brother's friends when they're not on duty."

"But what happens if they're all on a mission?" Shikamaru asked.

"No one's ever on a mission at the same time so far so I think I'm good." she shrugged.

"Koyuki-chan is a capable ninja!" Lee said. "She's quite capable of taking care of herself."

"Aw thanks Lee." she smirked and he merely gave her a shiny smile back.

"Ah such youth!" Gai bellowed with glee. "Relationships must be forged to make strong bonds between ninja!"

Ino saw Koyuki roll her eyes as everyone went back to their meals but she did not miss the small smile that pulled at her lips when she thought no one was looking. Whenever Koyuki's brother went on a mission Koyuki would be slightly sulkier, during kunoichi classes she would keep to herself even more from the class, even Ino. However, Ino was not going to let her recluse herself again if she had anything to say about it.

* * *

"I said no!"

"Oh come on Koyuki you can't keep hiding from me!"

"I'm not hiding from you," came the mumbled reply from the other side of the door. It had been almost two weeks since Kakashi had gone on his mission and Koyuki had done what Ino had predicted. Koyuki had distanced herself not just from Ino, but from Lee who she had begun to spar with upon Gai's request; halfway throughout the week she had started practicing so early in the morning and leave just before Lee would arrive. Ino had tried going to her and Kakashi's apartment more than once but Koyuki would never answer the door or she would sneak out through the window. But after two weeks, Ino had finally had enough.

"Yes you are, now open this door or I will knock it down!" she pounded on the door for a few seconds before it opened a tiny crack, glaring at Ino through it.

"We both know you don't have the strength for it, you would most likely break a hand."

"You can't lock yourself away from everyone every time your brother leaves." Ino huffed, crossing her hands. "It's not healthy."

"Ino," Koyuki sighed and opened the door a little more. "Why do you care so much?"

"Because we're friends dummy." Ino replied in exasperation. "Now come on, go get ready. We are going out."

Like a total 180 Ino pushed through into the apartment and found her way into Koyuki's room, with said girl mumbling in protest behind her. Once she got into the room Ino sighed in disappointment. The room was minimalist at best, almost completely bare. The bed was full sized with grey sheets, a plain desk with a few pencils and pens, the dresser was a dark cheery wood, and a night table with a lamp and alarm clock. The only form of decoration Ino could see were two pictures next to the lamp, a picture of Koyuki's family when she was three, before the death of her father and a picture of Kakashi and Koyuki with their mother when she started the academy.

"You and I need to do some serious shopping, how can your room be so plain?" Ino whined. All she got was a shrug from the young Hatake and she placed her hands on her hips, giving her a look Koyuki automatically recognized as the mom look. It was the same look her mom used to give her whenever she didn't want to do something and her mother would end up making her do it anyway.

"Ino...I don't-"

"You don't even have a plant! There's no color anywhere in here! If I look in your closet I bet I'll see nothing but black, grey and red!" she scolded. "No, no, no, we are going shopping today. We're going to get some color in your closet and your room, this looks just like a monks room-"

"INO GIVE IT A REST ALREADY!" Koyuki snapped. Ino stepped back a bit, realizing she may have over stepped a boundary in some way. Seeing surprise and a small glimmer of hurt in Ino's eyes Koyuki pressed her lips together and looked down as shame washed through her.

"Ino...look I'm sorry I-"

"No I'm sorry," Ino rushed out. "I got too pushy it's my fault."

"No..." Koyuki sighed "You're just trying to help this isn't your fault it's just..." she paused again, this time looking past Ino who followed her glance to the pictures on the night table.

"Before my mom died...we used to go shopping...a lot...we used to change my room every few months and shop for different things to decorate it with. Sometimes even things for different parts of the house...and after she died...I just, I just couldn't-I just couldn't convince myself to do it alone." he voice faded out and looked to the ground again, not wanting to see the pity in Ino's eyes.

"There's nothing wrong with missing your mom you know," Ino said softly, making Koyuki look up and see her friend giving her a warm look. "It's okay to miss the things you used to do but it's not okay to forget about the memories either. I don't think she would have wanted you to stop doing everything you used to do together."

"How would you know, you still have both of your parents." Koyuki replied back, not in a bitter tone but in a small sad voice. Ino walked up to her and reached over to grab her hand, giving it a comforting squeeze.

"I've had cousin's who have lost one or both of their parents, we're ninjas remember? As clan leader my dad's had to talk to many member's of our clan who've lost family. It's not easy but eventually they are able to keep their memory alive and do things they used to do with them."

"I miss her so much Ino..."Koyuki sniffed, "And every time my brother leaves I'm so scared he won't come back and I'll be all alone."

"You're not going to be alone." Ino said, nodding as if confirming it to herself. "You have me, and that weird taijutsu sensei of yours with the terrible fashion sense."

Koyuki couldn't help but giggle at her description of Gai making Ino smile back.

"There's that smile! Now, why don't we start small? Lets just add a bit of color, pick some new sheets for the bed and some things for your desk." Ino suggested. Koyuki looked around the room for a bit before her gaze settled on the pictures again to her mother's smile and twinkling eyes.

"Ok." she replied, albeit a bit nervously. Ino beamed and gave her hand another squeeze but this time in excitement.

"Great! Be quick and get dressed I'll wait outside!" Ino practically skipped to the door before Koyuki called her name making her look back to her friend, lips pulled in a gentle smile and eyes that were slightly a bit watery though if anyone ever asked it had just been the sun shining too much light through the window.

"Ino..."

"Yeah?"

"Thank you" Ino turned back to her her lips spread into a big grin.

"That's what friends are for."

* * *

**3.27.19**

**Pretty lengthy chapter, despite being your almost typical blond stereotype character i feel like Ino was one of the few Naruto characters that were not given the spotlight they deserved. I mean by Shippuden she seemed more mature, because hello** _Clan Heir!_ **And she must have been learning clan responsibilities and learn to help your clan when needed despite being portrayed as gossipy and a bit of an airhead at times. It's like one am and my brain just wants to sleep so I can't explain to the fullest why but I just want to develop Ino's character more the manga didn't do it justice -then again Kishimoto had so many central characters besides Team 7 so I kinda understand why character development of most of the characters weren't a priority- Anyway, I wanted to jump straight into a timeline at least one year before their graduation next but I kind of want to spend a bit more time on Koyuki's growth and how she came about having a friendship with Gai's team and ultimately the relationship disaster that became Ikari and Koyuki. Those of you who have not read the story don't worry it's not much of a spoiler but it will be important in later chapters.**


	3. Village Laps and Survival Training

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In the previous chapter Koyuki meets Ino's future team along with Rock Lee. Now we're going to delve a bit more into Kakashi and Koyuki's relationship as siblings and as teacher and student. Also a few flashbacks to when their mother was still alive. Enjoy!!

"Lets go over it again, you missed the target to the left." Genma instructed making Koyuki groan in frustration. Koyuki had been practicing with senbon for the past three hours. It was the third week of Kakashi's absence and Koyuki had kept her rotation of teachers since most of the time if Kakashi wasn't training himself or going on missions he was personally training Koyuki. At the moment there were seven targets all around her with senbons right on the bulls-eye except for one, the last target she had missed entirely with the senbon missing the target completely by at least a foot.

"Ugh, we've been at this for three hours," Koyuki groaned, wiping the back of her hand across her forehead. "And if I don't miss this one then I miss another one."

"Because you're not focusing," Genma scolded. "Whenever you get to the last target something always stops you, I can see how you hesitate at the last second. Why?"

"I don't know why." She mumbled, running a hand through her hair. "I...it's just...I don't know."

"Is this because of the combo?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well you did learn it from him. Makes sense you'd be hesitant to replicate it." Genma shrugged and then immediately froze, eyes widening and inwardly cursing when Koyuki looked at him with a confused frown.  _Shit shit shit, Kakashi's going to murder me._

 _"_ What are you talking about? Kakashi didn't teach this to me." she frowned, "I came up with it myself."

"Are you sure?" Genma asked.

Flashes of a dark shape twirling and trowing kunai from his hands flashed through her mind; her head throbbed for a moment, making her bring her hand to her head and press it against her temple.

"Hey you alright kid?" Genma took a step in her direction but she waved him away with her hand.

"I'm fine don't worry. Just a brief headache. I don't know how I came up with it I just set up the targets and when I saw them I had this kind of...idea of what I wanted to do."

"Then why are you hesitating? You almost have it, but why are you trying with senbon instead of kunai? You get more accuracy using that then senbon."

"I wanted the challenge." she smirked and Genma rolled his eyes,  _cheeky child_.

"Alright, then try it again...this time don't think about it, just react, let every single senbon just flow through your fingers. If you think too much you'll just miss the target again."

She nodded in understanding as she took out another pair of senbon, a concentrated and determined look on her face. Closing her eyes, she took a deep breath and let the sounds of the training grounds and animals fade into the background. She slowly exhaled, letting the cool steel of the senbons warm to her touch before tightening her grip and jumping high into the air. She quickly flipped her body upside down in a motion that made her body spin. She crossed her arms and once she opened her eyes she made the senbon fly. The first two headed to the two in front and then she sent another two that hit the edge of the first two making them change course and hit the other two targets while the second set hit the first two targets. She quickly let two more fly, followed by the last one which hit the very first one, making it change trajectory. Once she threw them she landed on her knees, breathing heavily...for some reason this move sometimes took a lot out of her.

"Not bad." Genma commented, she raised her head. All of the senbon were once again in the bulls eye, the last one on the other hand-

"Ugh, I still haven't gotten it to hit the mark!" she threw her head back with a groan of frustration.

"You got it to hit the target at least." Genma tilted his head to look at the target. "You were off by at least three inches. But give or take a few more practices and you'll hit the mark."

Koyuki huffed, blowing a strand of hair off her face.

"Well, times up I need to head out to get to the Hokage's office and get briefed on the upcoming chunnin exams."

"Alright, I'll clean up here myself." with a nod and a hand sign Genma disappeared in a swirl of leafs. It didn't take her long to clean up all the senbon and place them back in her weapons pouch. Once she was sure everything was cleaned she headed out of the training grounds. She let her feet guide her to its next destination and she soon found herself in front of a large black stone in the shape of a kunai with carvings and names on its entire surface. Kneeling in front of the stone she let her fingers trace down the names, a somber expression crossing her eyes as she went down the list of names. She stopped when she saw it, her mother's name on the third row towards bottom. Her fingers lingered there for a few seconds, eyes blurring for a moment before she forced herself to blink them away and shake her head. Her eyes then went over to the second row two pairs of names next to each other.

"Hey Obito, Rin..." she whispered. Both of her brother's teammates had died many years before she'd been born only learning about them from repeatedly asking his brother about them when she had found his team's photo. He had been pretty reluctant at first, changing the conversation or just disappearing in a swirl of leaves.

" _Why doesn't he want to tell me? Is he not friends with them anymore? Is that why they don't come over?" a four year old Koyuki asked her mother, her little feet swinging from the stool as she watched her mother make breakfast. Her mother turned off the stove before wiping her hands on her apron and turning to her daughter._

_"It's not that baby...it's just that...they-" her mother stopped not sure how to continue before her eyes glanced past her to the living room. Koyuki followed her eyes and when her eyes landed on the living room floor she clenched her fist._

_"Oh..." her mother barely heard the small reply and watched as her daughter's expression teared up. She placed her hand on her little fist and forced the fingers apart so she could lace their fingers together. Big round watery eyes stared back at her, her lip was quivering as she realized that the reason her brother's teammates did not come over was because, just like her dad, they were dead._

_"Don't look so guilty baby." her mom soothed, caressing her cheek with the back of her hand. "You didn't know."_

_"But I asked lot of questions."_

_"Oh sweetie I-"_

_"I'm home!" There was the sound of shuffling before they saw Kakashi walking into the kitchen, there was a gash on his right arm, a bruise peeking from the edge of his mask right under the eye, and his left arm was bandaged from the wrist up to his elbow. Upon seeing the worried looks on their faces his eyes crinkled in a smile._

_"I promise it's not as bad as it looks."_

_"Not as bad as it looks?!" her mother looked at him incredulously. "The only positive thing here is that you're not in a hospital!"_

_Kakashi sighed in defeat at his mother's stern look. She pointed at the stool next to his baby sister and he reluctantly sat on the chair while his mother went about putting breakfast on plates. As they waited Kakashi could sense his sister glancing at his injuries, cataloging each injury she could see and how she would be trying for the next few days to take care of his wounds. Gods know he wouldn't be taking care of them nor go to the hospital. Their mom placed their plates in front of them followed by her own and then took a seat in front of them. They ate in silence for a while, Kakashi glad they hadn't asked questions about the mission while Koyuki and her mom were just enjoying the presence of Kakashi being there safe and alive. Once breakfast was done their mom started on the dishes, refusing to let Kakashi help due to his injuries and told him to just go to his room, unpack and shower. Koyuki gladly volunteered to help him unpack. As she helped him, she placed his dirty clothes in the basket and then as she placed his small books that he always took with him next to his bedside she saw the picture of his teammates again. She stared at the picture, her brother was looking off to the side, pout clearly visible through his mask, a girl with short brown hair and purple marks on her smiling cheeks and a boy with orange tinted goggles covering his eyes, hark hair and pouting with his arms crossed. Their sensei -who she now knew to be the fourth Hokage- had the biggest smile, both hands on either boy's head. She's seen the picture hundreds of times but now that she knew the faith of the other two young kids it made her feel sad, realizing that her brother was the only one still alive._

_"Mom told you." she jumped, startled as she had forgotten momentarily that she was in her brother's room. He was looking at the picture as well from the other side of the bed, his dark grey eyes slightly dimmed with guilt. Koyuki shook her head._

_"No...she tried but, then she looked at the living room where daddy-" she stopped as she saw anger rise in her brother's eyes. "And then I just knew.""_

_They didn't die like him." Kakashi refused to speak their father's name since the incident referring to him only as **that man** or just  **him**. "They died protecting the village. They were heroes."_

_"I'm sorry," she said, little hands fidgeting with a lock of her hair while biting her bottom lip as she tried not to cry. "For asking about them...you miss them, and I make the pain come back." Kakashi looked at her sister and upon seeing the tears he walked around the bed, picked her up and sat her on his lap as he sat on the bed. She tucked her head under his chin with a sniffle clutching his shirt._

_"Don't be sorry, you didn't know." he rubbed her back for a bit while she calmed and he looked at the picture again, a hollow feeling rising in his chest as he looked at the girl's smile while his other teammate pouted. "Their name's were Rin and Obito." he said in a soft voice. Koyuki was silent, knowing her brother wasn't the overly sharing type and knew she had to pay attention._

_"Rin would have thought you were adorable, she was always bugging me about my wounds too even when they were just a scratch." he said and then gave a small scoff. "Obito would have probably been your favorite, he was always getting into trouble, he played pranks and he was always getting on my nerves. But he was a good person...always trying to help even when he didn't have to."_

_"He sounds very nice," Koyuki replied quietly. "I think I would have liked him too."_

_"Ah," he nodded, they lapsed in silence for a while before Koyuki spoke again._

_"Nii-san?"_

_"Hmm?"_

_"I'm wish I could have met them...I'm sorry they died."_

_"...me too...I wish you could have met them too."_

* * *

"Nii-san's still on his mission, it's been almost three weeks." Koyuki sighed as she sat crossed legged, leaning back on her hands. "I'm getting better with my senbon combo, though I keep missing the mark on the last target."

When Kakashi went on missions Koyuki made it her duty to go to the monument and talk to Rin and Obito's names. Kakashi had taken her to the moment the day after she had found out the fate of her brother's teammates and while Kakashi simply stood in silence young Koyuki had started talking to them, introducing herself and telling them about herself something which Kakashi had secretly thought was adorable.

"Nii-san doesn't like to admit it, but I can tell he feels guilty about what happened to the two of you. I wish I could take the pain away and make him feel better."

The only response she got was the rustle of leaves creaking in the wind, their leaves swaying and a few floating down. One landed on her head, slowly gliding down her forehead to her nose. Koyuki looked at it in amusement as if the leaf had been a hand booping her nose before chuckling.

"I guess that your guy's way of telling me not to worry then?" she blew it off and watched it fall to the ground. "I can't promise I won't stop worrying but I can promise to ease my brother's guilt however I can."

"Koyuki-chan?" looking behind her she saw Lee balancing himself on his hands looking at her with curiosity. "What are you doing here?"

"Oh, I'm just...visiting mom." she replied, motioning to the monument. She knew her brother's visits here were a secret and she did not want to give it away. Lee's lips twisted in a frown.

"I see, I have accidentally disrupted your alone time." flipped back on his feet and bowed in an apology.

"It's alright Lee, I've been here too long anyway." she reassured him with a smile. She looked back at the monument before looking back at Lee and getting up. "What brings you to this area? Were you training?"

"Yes!" Lee beamed. "I had finished my training with Gai-sensei earlier but I have decided to add some training of my own. I am attempting to go around the training grounds on my hands!"

"That's very ambitious of you." she raised an eyebrow in surprise. "How far have you gotten?"

"I have gone through seven training fields so far! Though I might have to skip a few since some of them require higher clearance." Lee sighed.

"Maybe you should just try going around the entire village instead." Koyuki teased, but it seemed Lee did not notice the teasing in her voice because his eyes lit up in realization.

"That is an  _excellent_ idea Koyuki-chan!" he shouted with zealous glee. "It would greatly improve my training for sure! Perhaps Gai sensei will approve and join me!"

Koyuki's eye twitched incredulously, not believing Lee was starting to become just as eccentric as Gai.

"Perhaps you should join us Koyuki-chan."

Instantly Koyuki scrunched her face a bit,

"I'd rather not die thanks." Koyuki huffed.

"But it will certainly help with endurance! What if we need to run for a long amount of time during a mission? We're going to need the endurance to last long distances."

Koyuki bit her bottom lip in thought for a moment, a voice that sounded oddly like Kakashi told her no, but another voice that sounded familiar but she couldn't place told her to go for it. After going back and forth she sighed, and shrugged, what harm could it do?

* * *

" _I...hate...you...stupid voice...why did...I say...yes..."_

A lot apparently, it could do a lot of harm to run around the village. Not once...but four times, not exactly an easy feat since Konoha was one of the biggest Hidden Villages.

"Well done Koyuki-chan well done!" Gai praised, ignoring the burning glare she sent his way. "You and Lee will be remarkable runners!"

Next to her Lee was just as much a pile of exhaustion as she was but he looked quite satisfied for having accomplished the four laps.

"Amazing...we should...do this...more often..."Lee panted.

" _Hell...no_ " Koyuki growled. " _It's going...to take...me days...to feel...my legs again..."_

 _"_ You'll be fine Koyuki-chan. With the increase in training you've been doing the past few months you will definitely get faster and you'll be sore less time." Gai encouraged. Her only response was a painful groan and splayed out on her back. She watched the blue sky and clouds float by as she slowly but surely caught her breath.

 _Argh I am never listening to these nut cases ever again._  Koyuki thought. She glanced over at Lee again and he seemed to be regaining he breath back as well.

"I don't plan on being a taijutsu master, I'll gladly give that to you Lee. I just need to be fast enough to beat my brother."

"Mah, if you really want to beat me try not to to kill yourself over exhaustion." came a voice from high up in the trees. Koyuki sat up quickly looking towards the sound of the voice and saw her brother leaning against a tree without a care in the world.

"Nii-san! You're back!" She called out happily and tried to stand, only for her to fall on her backside, legs unable to hold her at the moment. Kakashi gave out a chuckle while Gai went to stand next to his rival and grinned in greetings.

"I see you came back unharmed Kakashi, guess the threat your sister gave out actually made you come back in one piece." Gai smirked as Kakashi tensed slightly and sent him a reproachful look. Kakashi looked towards Gai's student who was eyeing him curiously and took note of the similarities between him and Gai.

"Are you sure he's not related to you?" Kakashi asked Gai in a low voice.

"I'm pretty sure." Gai replied but Kakashi rolled his eyes. Turning back to his sister he could only see the happiness in her eyes of seeing him again.

"How about we go home now, maybe stop for some ice pops on the way?" he asked, eye curving in a smile.

"Yeah!" she said with a big grin. Kakashi knelt next to her and helped her on his back, once she was secured on his back he stood, they bid good bye to Lee and Gai and left.

"I visited Rin and Obito while you were gone." she whispered, resting her head on his shoulder with a tired yawn.

"Thank you," he replied. "I'm sorry for coming back late."

"You're not in a hospital, I call that a win." she mumbled before tightening her legs around him and feeling him tense. "But don't think I didn't notice how you're slightly favoring your left side."

Kakashi sighed in defeat while his baby sister giggled.

"I can hide  _nothing_ from you can I?"

"Course you can," she reassured him. "The only think you can't hide is your injuries nii-san, I spent too many years seeing you hurt to not know when you are."

They finally bought the blue ice pop halfway home and Koyuki held on to them as Kakashi carried her. Once they got to the hallway that led to their apartment Koyuki split the ice pop, brought her brother's mask down and placed the ice pop in her brother's waiting mouth.

"What did you injure this time?" She asked once they were inside and Kakashi had unceremoniously dumped her on the couch.

"Stabbed in the leg, it's not that deep." he said. Seeing her frown at him he sighed and lightly tapped his ribs. "Slightly bruised ribs, and no, it did not hurt that much when I was carrying you."

"Like I said, at least you're not in the hospital this time." she shrugged in resignation, taking another bite from her pop. "I guess lucky for you I don't need to hide your books." she smirked at the dry stare he sent her.

"Keep that up and I won't teach you the new techniques I was planning for you." he teased, making her sit up and stare at him with shinning eyes.

"Really?!"

"Yes-" he couldn't say more and winced a bit as she clamped her arms around his waist, chin on his chest and gave him her biggest watery puppy dog eyes she could manage.

"Have I ever told you you're the greatest, biggest, best-est, bad-ass big brother ever?!" she gushed making Kakashi sweat drop.

"I need to tell Anko to cut back on her cursing." he mumbled watching his little sister babble in excitement and trying to guess what he would be teaching her. "You'll have to wait though, you're going to be sore after that village run and I need to see a healer tomorrow so I can at least get my leg healed a bit more."

"I can wait," she smiled "You need to be in top shape so I can learn it at full power."

Kakashi merely rolled his eyes, knowing she was thinking he would be teaching her something like the shadow clone jutsu or an advanced technique like the summoning jutsu she'd seen him do. Sadly for her that would not be the case but he was looking forward to seeing her face when she found out what they would be learning.

* * *

"I thought you were going to teach me something cool~" Koyuki whined as she found herself in a training field, tied up and hanging from a tree. When her brother had woken her up early in the morning a week after he had returned she had expected an awesome demonstration of what he had been planning to train her; instead he had merely given her time to get dressed and eat a light breakfast before he had unexpectedly tied her up and taken her to the training field.

"You need to learn how to escape being tied up," Kakashi explained. "This is the simplest knot to escape from with a few simple hand signs that I demonstrated. The faster you escape the more complicated I'll make them until we find one that takes you longer. After that you'll work on escaping faster. If captured by an enemy and stripped of your weapons you need to be able to escape this way."

"Won't they realize I'm channeling chakra to escape?" she asked as she slowly gathered her chakra and slowly began the hand signs.

"If you follow the flow of your chakra then they will not have any suspicions about you gathering your chakra, if you do it in small increments." he instructed and then raised an eyebrow when he saw her land if not a bit rough onto the grass. She raised to her feet and gave him a cheeky grin. It didn't take long before they found one knot that actually took her a while longer to do, though to his surprise it was the last knot and one of the hardest that most chunnin had trouble with. To see that it took her less than four hours was surprising, it was quite a feat since most took almost eight hours to escape this knot.

"Not bad, I guess I can teach you something new after all." Kakashi drawled, making an angry tick appear on her forehead.

"You made me do almost six hours of this and it wasn't even part of the training!?" she shouted, pointing a finger at him in disbelief.

"Of course it was part of training, this allowed me to see how well you could manipulate your chakra, there's no point teaching you advance ninjutsu if you can't manipulate chakra appropriately." her brother lectured as they went to a larger clearing that led to a medium size lake.

"What I will be teaching you is a new technique, it seems your techniques lean more towards earth and wind affinities so I'll be teaching you the basics of each."

"Earth and Wind?" she tilted her head in curiosity.

"You know that each shinobi has affinity to learn different elemental jutsus but can only completely master one, maximum of two. Most of Konoha shinobi have an affinity towards earth or fire, it's rare for a shinobi to have wind or even lighting affinity among the other elements like water."

"Is it because of the climate we live in? We're more into Nature and we have warmer climate so it would make sense we are geared towards fire and earth. Does that mean a village closer to water would be geared more towards water element?"

"That's correct, the village hidden in the sand for example would also be geared towards wind and earth jutsus due to their dry climate. But because of my sharingan I will be able to teach you the basic of most elemental jutsus I've copied." With that his hands flew into a small series of hand signs before slamming his hand on the ground. The earth around him rippled before cracking and then surging up like a wave towards her brother and encircling him in a large earth dome. Koyuki oohed at the dome and walked around it curiously, tapping it here and there to see if there were any weaknesses. A sharp knock from the inside startled her before a portion of it crumbled into an entry way and her brother stepped out.

"This is the earth style dome jutsu. More for protection and shelter than it is for battle but it has been known to be used as a trap against the enemy." Kakashi explained and then re did the hand signs with two different ones at the end before tapping the dome and allowed it to crumble back into flat ground. "This jutsu should be fairly simple, channel chakra to your hands and visualize the earth into the dome. Your chakra will be infused with the earth, the goal is to keep an even amount all around as this will strengthen the density and make it harder for the enemy to break through it."

 _So that's why he had me work on my chakra manipulation, if I couldn't balance it then it would be almost impossible for me to strengthen the dome._ Koyuki thought as he showed her how to do the signs again but at a slower pace. Once he was sure she had it he left her to her own devices, to her surprise.

"What? You're just going to let me do it by myself?!"

"I have to meet up with the hokage for a follow up from my previous mission. It shouldn't take me long so I'll check up on you later." he replied while Koyuki sent him an unamused pout which he ignored before poofing away. She sent an annoyed look at the spot her brother had disappeared before shaking her head and getting her mind back on track.

"Ok, let's do this." she mumbles to herself, going over the hand signs while gathering her chakra and envisioning the dome in her mind. There was a rumble followed by the ground giving out beneath her and dirt flying in the air like an explosion followed by a surprised yelped. Next thing Koyuki new she was buried in dirt up to her chest with her hands covering her head. Koyuki peeks through her arms and takes in the surroundings before she notices she's buried in dirt.

"I may have used too much chakra," she mumbled to herself as she wiggled a little and hummed in relief when she realized she could dig herself out. "But not enough to make it too condensed...hmmm," for the next three hours she started playing with the amount of chakra she uses, sometimes she used to little so the ground would ripple but did not rise or she would use a bit too much and be buried in dirt but thankfully never enough that she couldn't dig herself out. It wasn't until the half way through the third hour that she finally made progress into the dome fully forming around her but it wasn't solid enough to stop her hand from crumbling parts of it if any part of her body touched its walls.

"You've been at it for quite a while, I'm surprised you've only depleted half of your chakra." The voice that greeted her from the other side of her shaky dome sounded amused. She tried to ignore the voice in favor of concentrating on her chakra to strengthen her dome. The light tapping that began to echo slightly around her making her take a deep breath in order to clear her mind and focus on hardening the spots where she heard the tapping, beads of sweat begin to drip down her brow.

"You really shouldn't expend so much chakra, for your first time trying this jutsu you're doing pretty well." the voice was a bit more muffled now letting her know that the dome was thicker and certainly stronger.

 _I think I can do a bit more._ Koyuki thought with a frown as she took another deep breath and poured more chakra into the dome.

"Koyuki," he brother warned, "You're chakra is getting lower you need to stop."

Koyuki once again ignored her brother and kept going, her breathing getting a bit heavier and making her realize the lack of air.

"Koyuki! Release the jutsu,  _now_!" a particularly hard thud hits the dome, startling her out of her concentration and interrupting the chakra flow. She quickly makes the necessary hand signs and right away the dome begins to recede though because of her depleting chakra dome merely crumbles instead of smoothly rounding out back into the ground. With the dome finally gone she lets herself fall back on her backside in exhaustion, breath coming out in soft pants. A pair of shinobi sandal clad feet stop in front of her and her eyes follow them up to a pair of dark grey colored eyes looking at her sternly.

"Oh don't give me that look, I was doing pretty well." she huffed at him.

"That's not the point, the point is knowing when to stop. When learning a new jutsu you can't just recklessly expend your chakra like that." Her brother scolded. "When learning a jutsu you must manage the chakra you expend, learn your limits. You spent chakra for almost six hours with the escape jutsu and then you spent another three hours working on this jutsu. Had you run out of chakra you would have not been able to undo the dome, add that the density you were compacting and you would have not been able to punch or kick your way out of it."

Koyuki clenched her jaw in embarrassment, looking away from her brother's dry stare. While she sulked Kakashi gave her a once over noticing how her skin looked tanner due to the thin layer of dirt laying on her skin. She looked exhausted but satisfied at the work she did so he couldn't completely fault her, especially when he used to be the same when training.

"Maah, maaah, no more pouting. Since you managed to get this far I'll teach you more tomorrow." at this response her eyes lit up and she jumped to her feet in excitement.

"What? Really?!"

"We'll work on your ability to keep it it longer without spending too much chakra. Once you've passed that we'll move on onto different type of ground." at her look of confusion he smiled under his mask. "There's different types of sediment depending on the land and so you can manipulate the right amount of chakra to create the dome. A dome is even possible to be made out of concrete though because of it's different composition you'll need to distribute your chakra more."

"How long did it take you to learn nii-san?" she asked to which he chuckled.

"I was in the middle of battle baby sis so I was able to very quickly learn how much was needed. Once I had time to test it it only took me a few days."

"Then I'll master this jutsu in five days! The last three focusing on making that concrete dome able to withstand the hottest fire ball jutsu!" she claimed, pointing at her brother who looked at her with amusement.

"Is that so? Then what happens if you don't get it done by then?" his eye glinted with challenge.

"Name your punishment nii-san!" she exclaimed.

"Laps around the village." Koyuki's dry stare practically made him preen with glee. She spent almost three days feeling like her legs were on fire with every step she took. She really wasn't looking forward to running like that again.

"Grrr, fine! But if I win then...you have to accept Gai's next challenge! No matter how ridiculous it may seem!" now it was Kakashi's turn to give her a dry stare while Koyuki smirked.

"Ah, fine." he said shook Koyuki's hand to seal the deal before using said hand to help her get up. "Lets head back, you need a shower anyway."

"Alright alright," she smiled as she followed him.

"How about we go out to eat some ramen once you're done cleaning up."

"Yeah!"

* * *

_If you guys have any idea into what the challenge between Gai and Kakashi should let me know I'm curious and I need ideas. Who's ever challenge wins I will obviously give credit. Also any feedback is appreciated let me know how you guys are liking the few changes I'm adding._


	4. Enter: Ikari and Mika

"Koyuki-chan are you sure this is a good idea?" Lee asked nervously as Koyuki slowly surrounded by herself with the earth dome. It was day two and she had succeeded in making the muddy like dirt Kakashi had her practicing in hard enough to where a kunai had been unable to pierce it and just chip it instead. The earth she was practicing in now was much thicker, drier, and harder. She was practicing closer to the cliffs and she had to admit this particular earth was harder to manipulate due to the fact the dirt from before was closer to the water and more pliable. The earth she was working with now she had to compact the earth more to the point where it could be soft enough to manipulate and then harden it again but make sure it wouldn't be too dry to the point it would crumble and give out easily. She had just been thinking about how to test its endurance when Lee had found her. He had been quite impressed at the technique since he can't use ninjutsu and due to this it was much easier to get a second opinion on her jutsu. She also got to test out its strength by having Lee attack it with his fists, feet and ninja weapons. So far it had worked well enough but there were times where the force of Lee's kicks would shake the domes and dust to fall over her, she needed to make it stronger than that and she knew how strong Lee was getting.

"Of course it's a good idea," her voice sounded muffled from the dark earth dome, she had asked Lee to take off the weights he had recently started using under his pant legs to strengthen his kicks and speed. He wasn't wearing them now at her request and getting ready to kick her dome. "besides, this is the last test before I try with actual concrete. I promised nii-san I would have it mastered by the fifth day. Now come on, don't hold back."

"Well, alright, if you are sure." he sighed. His eyes took on a determined look before he rushed forward, jumping into the air and hit the top of the dome with a drop kick. Inside the dome Koyuki clenched her jaw as the sound of the kick rattled the walls, she gathered her chakra further and let it harden more.

 _Lee's kicks are stronger than before._ Koyuki thought, her hands tightening in the correct seal as the dome threatened to crumble. The dome shook for a few more seconds before it stilled, making Koyuki sigh in relief. She waited a few more seconds before she finally smiled in triumphed. With another quick change in hand signs she started receding the dome and this time she was much more successful in making sure the dome did not crumble as she made it recede back into the ground. When the dirt was back on the ground smoothly Koyuki breathed a sigh of relief, beaming happily.

"Phew! That was  _much_ better!"

"Koyuki-chan that was incredible! You managed to keep it controlled even after I kicked it!" Lee exclaimed in excitement. "The dome didn't even crack when I kicked it!"

"Really?" Koyuki asked in surprise. "I'm glad it didn't crack from the outside. That means I'm definitely getting better." She clenched her fist in determination. "I'll definitely master this jutsu by the fifth day."

"So cool Koyuki-chan! You'll definitely finish that jutsu on time!" Lee encouraged. "Now, I do have to get back to my own training but I wish you luck on the rest of your training."

"Ah, thanks for helping out Lee."

Once Lee was gone Koyuki headed to a different training ground which luckily for her happened to be gate seven where the memorial stone was located in. There was a large area with concrete behind the memorial which she realized was perfect for her to try her jutsu.

 _I'm close to running low on chakra so maybe I should just try raising it up to my waist instead of the whole dome._ She frowned in thought. With a quick shrug she ran through the hand signs and she watched in curiosity as the concrete rippled like water before heading towards her like a receding tide. The concrete continued to flow towards her before curving outwards life a flower and rising to her waist. However, it came as a surprise to her when she realized the concrete was easier to manipulate but it was harder to make it go back into its hardened state. When she added more chakra the concrete would hardened but crumple easily, the less chakra she added the smoother the concrete would move. Instead of applying more chakra to figure out how to do it she decided to just play around with the concrete since she could easily manipulate it. With a smile she started moving the concrete like tall grass in the wind swaying back and forth before they widened into flower petals and curving like a flower bud before making them open up like a blooming flower.

"That looks beautiful," a voice said behind her, startling her and making her lose concentration making the petals look like they withered before crumbling to the ground. Koyuki looked to her left and saw a guy, about a year or two older than her with dark brown eyes and dirty blond hair. He was wearing black pants with bandages covering his ankles at the bottom of the pants; his dark green shirt had quarter sleeves and also wore a black loose vest over it that gave him a laid back look. Seeing her startled look his curious face turned sheepish, his hand going to the back of his head in embarrassment. "Sorry, I just came to...visit my parents and...saw you here..." he slowly trailed off, eyes glancing behind her briefly to the stone monument.

Koyuki looked behind her to the stone monument before looking back at the boy in front of her before her own sheepish smile appeared.

"It's not your fault, maybe it wasn't a good idea to practice here." she said before making some quick hand signs and making the concrete flow like water again and settling back into the ground though not as smoothly as she wanted. She pouted at the ground where it looked like the concrete had been merely thrown to fill a hole. "I need to work on that." she mumbled but the boy heard her and couldn't help the chuckle that escaped him making her cheeks flush slightly.

"Um...my name's Ikari." he offered with a smile as he shoved his hands in his pockets.

"I'm Koyuki, Koyuki Hatake." she smiled back and Ikari blinked in surprise.

"Any relation to Hatake Kakashi?" he asked and Koyuki smile got a little wider.

"Yeah, he's my big brother."

"Ah, we've heard about him in class when we learned about ninja ranks." he explained before they fell silent again. It was awkward for a few moments before they were startled by the cry of a hawk flying by. They looked at each other again before they both let out a shy chuckle.

"I...uh..." Koyuki mumbled before she cleared her throat. "I should get going, I've been training for too long."

"That earth manipulation is pretty advance," he commented "you might want to focus more on the water to earth ratio, since concrete has two elements mixed in." Koyuki looked at him and looked at him with a blank look. Ikari couldn't help the smirk that pulled at his lips. "My father liked to teach me different types of elemental jutsu. He wasn't an expert like your brother, but he did like experimenting." his eyes then got a far away look at the memory and Koyuki gave a soft smile.

"He sounds like a great dad." she said softly and Ikari blinked away the memory before smiling back at her.

"He was." he replied and then she looked to the ground again before looking back up at him.

"I really should get going, don't want to interrupt your visit more than I already did." she played with a strand of her hair nervously while Ikari shook his head.

"Can't say I mind the interruption too much." Ikari shrugged before giving her a small smile. Koyuki tried to push down the flush creeping up her neck at his words. With a final nod of her head she quickly walked past him and started walking away, stopping only when he called her back.

"Hatake-san, if it's not too much trouble...would it be ok if I see you practice that jutsu again?" he asked and when Koyuki looked back she could see his curious yet hopeful expression and she found herself smiling back and nodding.

"Sure, same time tomorrow." she replied before finally leaving. 

* * *

"You've barely been doing this for almost five days?" Ikari replied in surprise causing Koyuki to look up from the concrete that now reached past her neck. Ikari had continued to help her with the jutsu for the next two days and she had made amazing progress so far. If he was honest with himself Ikari was impressed someone almost two years younger than him was this advanced in ninjutsu, specially elemental jutsu. He watched as Koyuki subconsciously bit her lip, eyes narrowed in concentration as the concrete started to curve until the dome finally covered her completely. Ikari walked over and started stabbing it with a kunai to test it's thickness while Koyuki adjusted from the inside.

"Yeah, I made a deal with my brother that I would master this jutsu in five days." he heard her muffled reply and he raised an eyebrow in amusement.

"Five days huh? Well, you're almost there anyway." he chuckled before tapping it three times giving Koyuki the signal to undo the dome. But she almost had it done so she gathered more of her chakra to cover the dome more. "Oi! Koyuki don't be stubborn and waste your chakra. If you make it too hard I won't be able to get you out."

Koyuki ignored him, now that she finally made it all the way she needed to work on getting the dome strong enough to resist any attack. Just as she finished hardening the dome she heard a sizzle close to the dome, followed by an explosion that cracked the dome from the left hand side and making the rest of the dome shake. She clenched her jaw as she tried to hold on to the jutsu for a few more seconds. Once the shaking ended she let out a sigh of relief and glared at the wall in front of her where she could sense Ikari. She concentrated again before changing her hand signs and letting out a small amount of chakra before the dome began to open up almost like a flower in bloom. The light blinded her momentarily making her blink repeatedly before everything came into focus. Ikari was looking at her with a worried yet exasperated look.

"You're very stubborn aren't you?"

"I need to get this done by tomorrow." Koyuki responded with a smirk, making him shake his head. "I can't lose to my brother."

"Yes but you can't put yourself at risk Koyuki, I have no desire to tell you're brother how you ended up at the hospital because you don't know when to take a break." he sighed, raking a hand through his hair and Koyuki tried not to let her cheeks flush at how cute he looked.

"Hey Ikari!" both of kids jumped at the new voice though Ikari rolled his eyes once he saw who had called out to them.

"I thought you were going to spend some time taking care of your siblings Mika."

Mika jumped down from the tree to their left and Koyuki tilted her head in curiosity. He was around the same age as Ikari, his dirty blond hair a darker shade and his eyes were honey colored that sparkled with mischief. He wore a dark green t-shirt with navy blue pants, kunai pouched strapped to his thigh and bandages around his ankles. Mika turned his head towards Koyuki and looked her over for a second before a smirk played on his lips.

"So this is the reason I haven't really seen you the last two days. You've replaced me my friend." he ended with mock hurt and a hand over his heart. Ikari gave him punched on his arm making Mika yelp.

"Don't be ridiculous no one can replace my partner in crime stupid." Ikari rolled his eyes before turning back to Koyuki and waving over to his pouting friend.

"This is Mika Himura, my best friend. Mika, this is Koyuki Hatake." Mika's eyes narrowed in surprise as he took in the last name.

"Are you really?" Mika questioned. "You're related to Kakashi Hatake?"

"He's my big brother." she replied smugly. Mika looked awed for a minute before he smiled back.

"That's amazing! How is it living with him? He must have taught you a lot of advanced jutsu." At that Koyuki's smile turned into a shrug.

"He's usually busy with his jonin missions and such so when he's out a few of his friends take the time to teach me. He has taught me a few things when he has time though." she replied. Mika and Ikari noticed the slightly disappointed tone in her voice but they chose not to comment on it. Then Mika snapped his fingers as if remembering something before pointing at Ikari.

"Now I remembered, I came to get you because you promised we would go train. We only have a weeks left before our graduation test." this piqued Koyuki's interest.

"Graduation exam? You guys are going to be genin?!"

"Yeah, we turned 12 a few months back and now we're just really hoping we end up in the same squad." Mika nudged Ikari who grinned back. "Anyway, we really should get going Ikari, we have to train a bit more before if we want to pass the graduation exam." Ikari sighed but he looked at Koyuki apologetically.

"He's right, we really should get going." Koyuki nodded and gave him a shy smile back.

"It's alright, good luck with your graduation exam. And thanks for helping me out with my jutsu Ikari."

"No problem," he smiled back and gave her a surprise as he leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. Her cheeks flushed, eyes narrowing in surprise as Ikari gave her a cheeky grin before both him and Mika jumped into the trees.

Koyuki could still feel a warm tingle of his lips against her cheek as she stared at the place where he'd left with Mika. The caw of a crow in the trees startled her for a moment before she shook her head, clearing her thoughts and frowning.

 _Agh focus Koyuki! You need to get this down by tomorrow!_ she growled at herself before she was distracted by her growling stomach.  _Ok, food first and I'll rest for a while to replenish my chakra before I keep practicing. Then I'll show nii-san my completed jutsu._

 

**Author's Note:**

> Welcome! This story is originally in Fanfiction.net and is being rewritten but I have decided that I should also share it's new version here. This story was created many years ago *cough* 2010*Cough* when i was a sophomore in highschool but now that I'm older and read a lot of fanfics to know what I like and what I don't, I do want to re write this story and give it the ending it deserves. By this I mean this story is finished and there is a sequel but at this point I'm stuck on how to proceed so maybe by going back to the beginning will help me finish the sequel because I do want to finish this story as a way for me to get closure and say goodbye to the anime that was basically my childhood and helped me get through life when the real work got to be too much.


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